Gauntlets of Will
by Drakai
Summary: As Naruto steals the Forbidden Scroll, he stumbles upon an interesting seal. Now armed with the powers of Skill and Will, and maybe a new romance on the way, see how his life will turn up. You obviously got nothing better to do.
1. Chapter 1

"That's it? Huh, I figured it's be more complicated than that." Naruto muttered to himself as he ducked under another branch in the forest just outside of Konoha.

That morning, he had given his best at his third, and final, try at the Gennin Exams. But alas, his best was not enough.

He had failed again, done in by the _**Clone Technique**_, for the third damn time. "And come on, when are we even gonna use the damn thing. Stupid pricks." As he was sitting on the swings after the exams, slightly bummed, Mizuki, one of the two teachers of his class, approached him with a rather interesting proposition. He had arranged another test the blond could use to become a Gennin. Too bad the young man had caught the malicious glint in his eyes, but he decided to proceed anyway and catch the silver-haired bastard red-handed. He sneaked into the Hokage Tower with surprising ease, suspecting Mizuki had a hand in it, lifted the Forbidden Scroll and ran.

He let out a small breath when he got to the cabin Mizuki had told him about. He leaned the scroll on one of the walls. "Now only to wait for Mizuki to show." He glanced at the scroll, then around, then at the scroll again. "But, I suppose no one would mind if I just peaked for a bit. Hehehe…" He unrolled the scroll and glanced at the first entry. "Another clone. Man, these things're gonna haunt me. Next. Boring. Boring. Useless. Stupid. Hm… Nah. Hello! What have we here?" It was a seal. A Chakra Overload seal, to be precise. But Naruto didn't know that, so he used the age old tactic… "Hm... I'm just gonna pump a shitload of chakra in it, see what happens."

Three poofs were heard. Naruto waved his hands in front of him, trying to clear the smoke from the sealing, and raised an eyebrow at the items.

The first thing was a rather curious contraption. Its base was made from a black ash-wood, fashioned in a somewhat L-shape. The rest was made out of a silvery metal. It fit perfectly in Naruto's hand.

The other two items that were unsealed were pieces of dark blue, almost black cloth, both with a strange oval. He raised an eyebrow as he touched the two pieces of fabric, one with each hand. A white light flashed and the leaves falling from a nearby tree stopped.

The two rags morphed into fingerless gauntlets. They were long, reaching just under Naruto's elbows, one for each hand. The ovals were at the back of the hand, one blazing red and the other a metallic green. He eyed them for a moment before shrugging and putting them on.

The moment he did he felt a surge in his head, followed by a slight headache. He smirked as he glanced at the left glove. "The Gauntlet of Fire." Then at the other. "The Gauntlet of Blades. And a gun. Fun!" He grinned, pointing the gun at a nearby tree, his eyes flashing white.

Kagura stood on one a limb of a tree, scanning the forest with her narrowed eyes. Not even ten minutes ago the Hokage had called all Chunnin and higher Ninja for a breach in security

_Flashback_

"_We have had a slight… breach in security." The Hokage informed the gathered Ninja, blowing smoke rings from his pipe._

"_Oh? How slight?" Kakashi raised his only visible eyebrow._

"_The Forbidden Scroll got stolen." Most of the Chunnin gathered gasped and started talking among themselves._

"_How is that slight?" One of the Chunnin asked with a bewildered look on his face._

"_Because Naruto's the one who stole it._

"_What?" The same Chunnin gasped. "We have to hurry. The de-" He was smacked on the back of the head by Kakashi, sending him to the floor._

"_You'd better watch your tongue, hm?" He quipped, eye smiling. "Or you might just lose it." The Chunnin gulped and nodded quickly._

"_Now, the reason this is a 'slight' security breach is that Naruto was convinced by someone. So you're gonna go now and find him, then bring him back, unharmed. Understand?" The Hokage asked, raising an eyebrow at a plume of smoke where one of his best Anbu, Wolf, stood a moment ago. "What the hell are you waiting for? Get going."_

_Flashback End_

She was broken out of reminiscence by a white flash in the distance and a strange bang. She turned to the source and took off, jumping through the trees.

She landed on a branch near the clearing and watched as Naruto held an L-shaped weapon, the end of which was smoking, with a grin on his face, chuckling maniacally. She raised an eyebrow at the weapon but shrugged, seeing as how a silver-haired Chunnin entered the clearing, Naruto quickly putting the weapon away, grinning at the man. She could question him later.

Mizuki could swear that he heard someone chuckling, but waved it off in favor of his pray. The brat he talked into stealing the scroll was standing in front of it, waiting like a good little puppet. Perfect.

"Alright Naruto, you passed. Congratulations. Now hand over the scroll and I'll set it back up for the next examinee." He extended his hand, motioning for the scroll.

"So I pass?"

"Yeah. That's what I said, isn't it."

"Alright then, so where's my headband."

"Uh… You'll get one later. I kinda forgot." He smiled, rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah, I don't think so. I think I'm gonna keep this and hand it over to the Hokage. How's that?"

"Well, if you do that, you'll fail."

"Maybe. If this was actually a test. You've intended to play me from the beginning."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Mizuki had a few beads of sweat coming down his forehead.

"Sure you don't." Naruto deadpanned, rolling the scroll behind him with his foot and reaching to the back with his hand.

"Well, hand it over then."

"Nope, sorry."

"Fine brat, I'm done playing nice anyway." Mizuki's face turned from pleasant to sneering. "I'll just take it myself." He charged Naruto, cocking his fist back.

Naruto grinned, and brought out his gun from his back, cocking it and aiming at Mizuki's shoulder. He waited until the Chunnin was less than two feet in front of him, before he fired, the bullet flying strait and going through Mizuki's shoulder. The Chunnin gasped in pain, clutching his wound.

"A straight line? Really, what kind of Ninja are you. Heh, noob."

"Grr, I'll deal with you yet, Kyuubi Brat." Naruto raised an eyebrow at that.

"Really, that's the best you can come up with? That's… sad. Really, really sad."

"Shut up brat." He took a vial from one of his vest pockets and brought it to his lips. He chugged it down in one gulp, shivering from the taste.

Naruto watched with a raised eyebrow and a slightly grossed out look on his face as the Chunnin in front of him convulsed. Mizuki's skin began to seemingly bubble and stretch, his nails lengthened to claws and his teeth turned to fangs. His ears lengthened and he grew orange fur.

"Behold." He got up when the transformation finished, looking like a bipedal tiger. "The ultimate gift from Orochimaru-sama."

"Orochimaru? So that's who you were getting the scroll for."

"Yes! And now you will tremble in fear at my strength." Mizuki vanished from sight and reappeared by Naruto, punching him in the stomach and sending him back a few feet.

"Ugh. Damn." Naruto clutched his gut in pain before straightening up. He cocked his gun and fired at Mizuki, who was too fast and managed to dodge every bullet.

"Not even your contraption can save you now." Mizuki grinned before vanishing from view again. This time Naruto managed to figure out where the Chunnin would reappear and blocked the claws with his gun.

"The same trick again? I'm disappointed." Naruto grunted under the weight of Mizuki's arm. _Gah, I could really use some help right about now._ And as if his mind was read, several knives launched from under Mizuki. Naruto managed to disengage and jump away before the invisible chakra strings wrapped around the Chunnin's form.

"_**Ravaging Chakra Knives!**_" Naruto tilted his head slightly and saw a Wolf masked Anbu in an exotic getup on a tree branch nearby. "Hello Naruto." He couldn't see it, but he was sure she smiled at him.

"Hey Anbu-chan. Thanks for the save. How long have you been standing there?"

"You looked like you could take care of it." She shrugged, constricting the tiger hybrid. "Hello Mizuki. Nice look."

"Even you cannot stop me!" The Chunnin roared before he managed to break the chakra strings. "I will get that scroll to Orochimaru-sama. I am invincible now!"

"That vial bloated his ego, not just his body." Naruto muttered while Kagura coughed to hide her giggle. "Can you keep him occupied for a few seconds? I wanna try something."

"Why of course I can." She grinned under her mask, swaying her hips as she walked towards Mizuki, both the men's eyes glued to her form. Naruto shook his head and spread his hands, one in front of him and one slightly in back, palms toward the ground, and started concentrating. A few red sparks quickly shot out from his gloved hands.

"Why Mizuki, how strong you look." The Chunnin grinned lecherously before he managed to slip out of his trance.

"Stay back, woman. Your charms won't work on me." She grinned before bringing her hand up, making the knives that were on the ground fly towards the tiger.

"Oh I know." Mizuki cursed and shielded his eyes with his hands, allowing the knives to strike him and imbed in his skin. He roared in pain.

"These little pricks mean nothing to me. You've wasted your chance to-" He roared in pain again as the knives flashed from the lightning chakra Kagura sent through the strings.

"Now, move!" Naruto yelled. Kagura jumped away and turned to Naruto, raising an eyebrow in wonder at the sight.

Naruto's eyes were narrowed in concentration, his form slightly hunched forward, and two big balls of fire in his hands. He grinned and brought the hands together, facing the surprised Chunnin. The fire shot out, forming an arrowhead-like shape and flying with great speed at Mizuki, who was struggling to break the strings which were keeping him in place. Kagura added more chakra to the strings and watched as the fireball impacted the Chunnin, making him screech in pain. When the smoke cleared, Mizuki was lying on the ground, twitching as the transformation slowly receded.

Kagura was by Naruto's side in a moment, catching him before he fell on his face.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. First time I used the gauntlets. Takes a lot out of you."

"Very nicely done Naruto." The Hokage clapped as he entered the clearing the battle took place. His eyes landed on the scorched figure of Mizuki lying on the burned ground. He signaled two Anbu who appeared and took the traitor away, while Sarutobi himself took the scroll. "Come by my office tomorrow and we'll sort this mess out." Naruto nodded before falling unconscious. "Wolf, take him to his apartment, and then bring him to my office tomorrow." The Hokage grinned at the masked woman, whose hidden cheeks had an almost unnoticeable pink hue.


	2. Chapter 2

"My, my, Naruto-kun, aren't you cute?" Kagura whispered to herself as she tucked a strand of Naruto's hair behind his ear. She had taken him to his apartment and tucked him into bed, and proceeded to watch over him for the next couple of hours, which led to their current situation. "And to think that only yesterday I had planned on leaving this village for good." She continued musing to herself. "What do I do now, I wonder?"

"Well, I'd like it if you'd stay." Naruto commented from his position on the bed. She leaned in, staring at his face.

"How long have you been awake?"

"From the 'Aren't you cute?' line. You, um, might want to back up a bit. People might talk." She giggled at his remark.

"No, I think I kind of like it here."

"Suit yourself." He shrugged. "Wanna take the mask off, Kagura-chan?"

"Aw, you take all my fun away." She pouted, lifting the mask up, revealing a beautiful face with light grey eyes and several red tattoos that resembled flower petals.

"How is it fun if I already know who you are?" She shrugged, making him roll his eyes and get up from the bed, noticing he was dressed in only his old pants and new gloves, his gun on a nearby desk. "So, you enjoy yourself?" He motioned to his state of undress, making her nod. "You want to turn around, or do you want to watch me get dressed?" When she made no move to turn, he shrugged again and got dressed, ignoring her rather blatant ogling him.

He now wore dark blue pants, a same colored vest over a white dress shirt. His feet were decked in black boots and he had a small ponytail on the back of his otherwise-short hair. He holstered the gun behind him and pulled the gloves on his hands.

"Come on; let's get this little interview with the old man over with." She nodded and put her mask back on, transporting them both into the Hokage's office, where the old man was waiting for them, engrossed, as always, in his paperwork.

"Hey old man, you wanted to see me?" The Hokage looked up, a grateful look on his face.

"Yes, I did. Sit down." Anything to escape the damned paperwork.

"If this is about last night, I have a pretty good story." Naruto said as he sat down, Kagura standing by the door of the room.

"Oh, do tell." The Hokage crossed his fingers in front of his face, an amused glint in his eyes.

So, after an hour or so of a very intricate, very embellished story, which earned him a few smacks on the back of his head from Kagura, who neither of them saw move from her spot, he'd finally told Sarutobi the entire story.

"And is that it?" He asked with a small, knowing grin.

"Yeah, that's it." Naruto shot him a glare.

"You sure?"

"What exactly is it you're implying, you crazy old coot?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing." He raised his arms in surrender. "You're free to go. Stop by the Academy two days from now for the Team Placements." Naruto nodded and walked out the door. Kagura waited a moment, looking at the Hokage, who was just staring at the paperwork. She coughed and he shooed her off, still glaring. She left the office with a sweat drop on her face.

Sarutobi was still giving the mountain of recycled wood a full out death glare for a few more moments before finally giving up, glancing around his desk top for something else to distract him. His frown turned to a wicked grin when his eyes fell on the Team sheets.

"Any reason you're following me?" Naruto was, meanwhile, being shadowed by the beautiful Anbu captain.

"Not really. Just bored." Kagura appeared beside him.

"Cute. Come on." He grabbed her by the hand, dragging her along.

"Where are we going?"

"To lunch. Hungry?" She just shrugged.

"Sure, why not?"

Two days later finds Naruto casually walking toward the Ninja Academy, ready to be sorted into a team which will help him advance in his career and keep him safe, and which he will help and keep safe in return. As long as he wasn't with the Uchiha or the Haruno. That'd be bad. Extremely, utterly bad. Sighing in resignation, he opened the door of the classroom, and was caught completely unaware by the sudden rush of noise. Completely unaware, despite having spent a couple of year in the same room, with the same people no less. He really should have seen this coming.

Fortunately, he somehow timed his entry just right, and a second later, and not a minute too soon, Iruka slowly, and with great effort, shut the class up.

"It was my honor to guide and teach you throughout your years here at the Academy. I hope that you…" He trailed off when he noticed no one was listening to him. "The first team will consist off…" He grinned. That got their damn attention. Naruto got to his seat and crossed his fingers.

"Team Seven will consist of Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto. Your Jounnin Sensei will be Hatake Kakashi." Naruto started banging his head on the desk, feeling really depressed, and silently cursing the old man. This could only be his doing.

"Your Senseis will meet you here in an hour. Good luck. You're gonna need it." Iruka walked out the door, chuckling to himself, making some of the Gennin in the room a little spooked.


	3. Chapter 3

"Oh, hello there." Kakashi stuck his head through the door, watching the three Gennin with interest. "My first impression is… you three are rather boring, no?" Sakura shrieked at him, Sasuke glared, while Naruto face-palmed. "Well, meet me…" He was interrupted by Kagura, without her mask, flickering to existence in the classroom.

"Hey." She waved to the occupants with a small smile, which Naruto returned grinning. "Here, Kakashi, new orders from the Hokage." She handed the scarecrow a slip of paper.

"Hm… blah, blah, blah, by order of Hokage…. Team Seven a three-man cell… apprenticeship under…" He looked at Kagura for a moment before shrugging. "You two, let's go, Naruto just got drafted into an apprenticeship. Luck bastard." He muttered under his breath.

"What! Why should that dobe…" The Uchiha found himself dazed outside the classroom, with his shirt on his legs and his pants on his torso, while Sakura walked out, glancing nervously at the female Jonnin who sent Naruto and innocent grin.

"So, what did you do?" Naruto asked his new Sensei when the two were left alone.

"Well…"

_Flashback Enabled_

_Kagura appeared in front of the Hokage, who was currently staring at his paperwork with a thoughtful look._

"_Hello there, Lord Hokage."_

"_Wolf?" The old man looked up at the seemingly-stoic woman. "Can I help you with anything?" He asked her after a few moments of silence._

"_I'm quitting Anbu." Sarutobi raised an eyebrow?_

"_And why would you do that?"_

"_I want to become a Sensei." Sarutobi's other eyebrow joined the first._

"_Oh? What brought this on?"_

"_I want to be Naruto-kun's Sensei."_

"_Ah. Well, I'm sorry to say that it's already decided that Naruto will be with Kakashi."_

"_But I want Naruto-kun." She said with a fake sad voice. "Please."_

"_As I told you he will…"_

"Please_." She stressed the word, making Sarutobi a little uneasy._

"_Well, I don't know…" The uneasiness he felt grew. "On second thought, I think you'll be a good Sensei for him. Your other teammates will be…"_

"_Just Naruto-kun, please." The uneasiness was back, full force._

"_Alright, fine." Sarutobi said quickly. "Take this note to Kakashi, he should be at the Academy about now. And leave your mask." She threw the mask on the table and, taking the piece of paper, disappeared in a swirl of red petals. Sarutobi breathed a sigh of relief, before returning to his paperwork._

_Flashback Disabled_

"And now I'm your Sensei." She grinned at him. "And you're my cute little student. Will you be good for Sensei?" She leaned in, sending a hot breath of air against his ear.

"No way." He grinned, doing the same.

"Good. Now, since I already know where you live, want some tea?" He nodded and she grabbed his hand, flickering them to her house, where she set out to make the tea. "Preferences?"

"Jasmine." He answered, sitting at the table, scanning the house. It was relatively simple but feminine, and the scrolls and weapons all around betrayed the fact that a Ninja lived here. The colors she seemed to prefer were all various shades of red, from lightest, rosy-red to crimson. She brought out the tea pot and cups, breaking him from his thoughts.

"You like?" She made a little pose that made Naruto wonder whether she thought the apartment or her. So gave an answer to both questions.

"Very." She nodded, seemingly satisfied, and poured them some tea. "Shouldn't we introduce ourselves now?"

"But we already know each other." She took a sip and then thought for a moment. "Do you really want to?" He nodded. "Ok then, I'll go first. My name is Kagura, previously Wolf of the Anbu corps. I like tea, the color red, wolves, dancing, and my Sparrow." Naruto brushed the engraving on his vest lightly. It was a sparrow in flight. "I dislike anybody who hurts my Sparrow. My hobbies are dancing, drinking tea and training, and my dreams I'll keep secret for now."

"Your Sparrow?" Naruto raised an eyebrow, grinning.

"Shush now. Your turn.

"Very well. My name is Naruto. I like my weapons and gauntlets, shooting, the color blue, sparrows and my Wolf. I dislike most of the villagers, as well as morons. My hobbies are shooting things and training. And I think I'll keep my dream a secret as well." Kagura nodded her head, taking Naruto by the arm and leading him to her velvety red sofa in the middle of the living room, right in front of the fireplace. She sent a small ball of fire from her throat to light the wood and sat Naruto on the couch, before lying next to him and putting her head on his lap.

"Kagura, are you coming on to me?" His question drew a grin from her.

"Depends. Is it working?"

"Maybe…" He leaned in.

A couple of weeks later Naruto and Kagura were walking slowly to the Hokage's office. The day after the Team Placements they went to the Hokage and struck a deal with him: they would do no D-Rank missions, but would stick to C-Ranks in the radius of ten miles around the village for one month. It was now a month and one day, and they went to the old man to see if they could pick out a more challenging assignment.

"Well, believe it or not, I have just the thing for you two." Both Naruto and Kagura raised an eyebrow. "You see, some three days ago I sent Kakashi's team on a C-Rank mission to the land of Waves, which, according to the letter I got from Kakashi's summons this morning, turned into a High B-Rank at least. So I'm sending you two to help out."

"You sent an undermanned team to a C-Rank mission to a foreign country?" Naruto had an incredulous look on his face.

"Well, in my defence, they were very annoying, and I just wanted to shut them up." Sarutobi scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Kagura sweat dropped, while Naruto gave a face palm.

"Hm… ok, we'll go." Kagura said after a minute of thought. "We'll leave in an hour, Naruto-kun. Go get ready." Naruto nodded and disappeared in a swirl of feathers. "You know, Lord Hokage, if Naruto-kun gets hurt because you're withholding something from us, you and me are gonna have a little talk." She smiled a little too sweetly at the old man.

"Oh, I didn't realize you two were dating now."

"Maybe we are, maybe we're not. That's the least of your concerns." She smiled again and disappeared in a swirl of petals.

**Yeah, I decided to use a sparrow for Naruto's animal in this fic, because of the PC in the second Fable. He'll be getting a summoning scroll later on, too.**

**Also, I have a new Twitter acount, on which I will be posting updates and maybe even new ideas. Check it out, the name's Drakai07, the pic is the same as my profile for FanFiction.**


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